The teenage years of a loser called Rimmer
by Sunrise over the Tango Factory
Summary: Life for Rimmer is sheer hell, he's hated by everyone, and can't understand why a girl would want to chat him up? UPDATED & FINISHED
1. Branded Bonehead

The teenage years of a loser called Rimmer  
  
Rimmer's footsteps echoed down the well-lit corridors, he raced past displays of work hardly giving them a glance, they were catching up on him, straight ahead of him lay safety, an open classroom, he jumped in and slammed the door shut, he leant against the wall, breathing heavily in a mixture of breathlessness and fear. Shouts of "bonehead bonehead bonehead" got louder and louder, outside footsteps of the bullies made the glass in the door rattle, Rimmer sat praying that they wouldn't find him, the corridor went quiet, he peeked out of the window and slowly slid the door open, he cautiously stuck his head out, and glanced up and down the corridor, they'd gone. He went back into the classroom and began to survey the damage, this time it wasn't too bad, his face stung a bit, he had a cut knee and a rip in his trousers. He opened the door and began to walk slowly down the corridor, slow, menacing thuds behind him signalled he was being followed, he didn't look back, he just ran, as did the follower. The person grabbed the back of his blazer and forced him against the wall,  
  
"Where you going 'Bonehead'?" It was Peter Butch, who was nicknamed 'Butcher', he grinned at Rimmer nastily, Rimmer began shaking,  
  
"Nowhere" he said curling up, Peters right hand turned into a fist, Rimmer gasped and closed his eyes,  
  
"Too right" said Butcher, he punched Rimmer hard in the stomach, making him double up. Butcher then grabbed Rimmer's hair, yanked back his neck and punched him in the middle of his face, pleased with his work Butcher walked down the corridor, hands in his pockets, laughing. Inside his head Rimmer was screaming in pain, but outside, he didn't shed a tear.  
  
Rimmer stood outside his dormitory, staring at the window, he wasn't looking out of it, and he was trying to see if his face was bruised. He turned round and faced the door; he dreaded evening more then any other time of day, being in a room with 15 other boys, all of whom hated the sight of him. He placed his hands on the doorknob and took a deep breath. The door creaked as Rimmer opened it, everyone's attention was drawn to the door, Rimmer froze, he wanted desperately to run away, but they'd chase him and then beat him up. Butcher walked over, and stood towering over him, he grinned again,  
  
"just tellin' the lads what a little baby you were in our fight bonehead!" Rimmer attempted to ignore him, and walked past Butcher, he began to undress, all he wanted to do was go to bed and be alone, he pulled the covers over his head, Butcher insisted on telling everyone how Rimmer 'cried like a baby', he always added in extra details, to make his victims look even more pathetic or to make him look even more fierce. Rimmer cheeks were wet with tears, and he swore that he'd have one day of his life where no one would bully him. He'd play truant the next day.  
  
Rimmer walked down the steps that lead down the dining room and the entrance hall, he made sure that he was last out of the dorm room that way he'd get no bother off anyone, he reached he bottom step, he was supposed to be doing extra rugby practise, the teacher said it was to make him more of a man, he was lying, it was because he thought Rimmer was weak. Rimmer glanced uneasily at the rugby pitches, then at the open gate that lay at the end of the driveway, adrenaline raced through Rimmer blood stream, he began to race down the gravel path faster then he'd ever run before, he kept loosing his footing, his heart was nearly bursting out of his chest, but he didn't stop running. He made sure he was far away from school before stopping; he began to stroll towards the city centre, that was when it dawned on Rimmer, he was free, free for a whole day, no bullying, no teasing, no being beat up, FREE! He had to stop himself jumping up and down and singing with joy. He walked around the city grinning from ear to ear, he found himself walking in the park, he normally hated the park, whenever he came with school, he always ended up in the pond or tied to a tree, but it was empty and quiet. He sat down on a bench and gazed round the park, there was a women walking a dog, two elderly men deep in discussion a few benches down, and a girl about his age sat on the grass reading, he tried to read the title of the book, but suddenly the girl lowered it, and met Rimmer eyes, she waved. Rimmer looked behind him, expecting to see someone who the girl was waving to, no one was there. Confused Rimmer looked at the girl, she gave Rimmer a kind smile, Rimmer began to sweat, bullies scared him, but girls scared him even more, he quickly looked down at the floor, he was busy staring at his shoes when a shadow fell on the floor in front of him, he slowly looked up, it was the girl, she smiled, showing a set of pink and purple braces, Rimmer felt his heart flutter,  
  
"Hi" said the girl, dumping her bag on the floor, and sitting beside Rimmer, "I'm Elizabeth, and you are?" Rimmer stared at her,  
  
"I'm bone...Arnold, Arnold Rimmer" he groaned, he's just made a complete and utter prat of himself. "Bone Arnold?" said Elizabeth "that's a unique name" it wasn't an insult, she said it nicely, adding a little giggle on the end. "Can I call you Arn?" she asked blushing, 'You can call me anything you like' thought Rimmer, he nodded,  
  
"Bunking off?," asked Elizabeth, Rimmer was about to say no, but he then realised he was sat in a park in his school uniform,  
  
"Yeah" he said, hoping Elizabeth wouldn't notice his ripped blazer or bruised nose. "Me too" she said sighing, "well sort of, were on a geography trip, meant to be making notes on the city, but I came here instead get some peace and quiet, so come on" she said facing Rimmer and giving him a smile, "why you bunking off?" Rimmer puffed out his chest,  
  
"No reason" he said, trying to sound hard, "just can't be bothered with school or teachers and" he noticed Elizabeth's face "what's the matter?" he asked her, no longer trying to sound hard. He followed Elizabeth's eyes, a tall, scrawny women was marching across the park, behind her stood a pack of girls, all of whom were wearing the same uniform as Elizabeth, they seemed to be laughing at something, "Elizabeth Evens, you disgraceful girl," the teacher barked "come here right now!" "uh ho" she said, she jumped up grabbed her bag, and raced off,  
  
"Bye Arn" she said waving. As Rimmer watched her leave, he felt his heart sink to his shoes. He lifted his feet and lay on the bench, something dug into his neck, he sat up, it was Elizabeth's book, "Elizabeth" he yelled, holding the book up, he read the title, and looked at Elizabeth's who was being dragged away from the park by her teacher, then at the book, "no" he said in disbelief. He re-read the books title, trying to understand, He read it again to be sure.  
  
"How to cope with bullies"  
  
Rimmer tried to put off going back into school for as long as he could, but by 9 O Clock he was tired and very hungry. The moment he went through the doors, he was grabbed by the ear and dragged into the head masters office where he received a lecture, he said "yes sir, no sir, sorry sir" in all the right places, but he wasn't really listening, he kept thinking of Elizabeth, and the book.  
  
"A months detention Rimmer" shouted the headmaster, "and if you ever pull a silly little stunt like this ever again, it will be longer, now get out of my sight!" Rimmer grabbed his bag, and hurried out of the room, he began to walk as slow as he could back to the dorm room. He entered the room, and the boys began laughing, "Who knew it eh?" laughed Butcher "Bonehead waggin' it, you couldn't have been any good, you got caught!" Rimmer didn't hear them; he was lost in his own world. That night, Rimmer lay waiting for the rest of the boys to go to sleep, "why" he thought to himself "why does such a nice, kind girl get bullied" but then Rimmer wondered why anyone got bullied. He made sure that everyone was asleep, before creeping out of bed, sneaking the book out of his bag, and found a torch, he pulled the covers over his head, and began to read  
  
"Chapter 1: you are not alone" 


	2. Getting Help

> Rimmer knew that the only way he would ever get a chance with Elizabeth was if he had some lessons in love. He didn't want to ask any of the boys in his dorm, they'd just laugh and make fun of him, and Rimmer wasn't prepared to give them new material for their bullying. He decided to ask one of his brothers on his next visit home, surely one of them could give Rimmer a snippet of advice, after all he was their brother?  
  
John and Howard didn't care about Rimmer's trouble and told him to push off, but Frank seemed quite keen to help his youngest brother. Rimmer would later find out, this was yet another one of his pranks, Frank was going to lure Rimmer into a false sense of safety and trust, then BAM, he'd hit him, hard! Even though Rimmer was talking to his brother, he was embarrassed, it took him 10 minutes to work himself up to ask Frank to have a chat with him. He did, eventually, and as they sat at the bottom of the garden, on the bench where Rimmer had once been tied to all night, Rimmer took a deep breath and began to share his troubles.
> 
> "There's this girl, and she really likes me..." He cut off mid sentence by Frank laughing his head off, and he only stopped when he caught sight of Rimmer's serious face. Frank stared at Rimmer,
> 
> "Really?" he asked quite amused. Rimmer nodded his head, all the while thinking this may not be such a good idea.
> 
> "So" Frank continued, "what do you need me for?" he asked smugly. Rimmer sighed, closed his eyes and said
> 
> "I need to know how I can get her to like me more..." Frank smiled; he patted Rimmer on the back
> 
> "You've come to the right man, little bro, I've had more girls then how many times you've been beat up!" Rimmer stared at his brother in awe, and let out a low whistle of approval, he'd been beaten up so many times it was now a four digit number. Casanova compared to Frank, was just a spotty little freak whose only way of getting a date was asking girls out in total darkness.
> 
> "Okay" said Frank "there's 3 very, very important rules you have to remember, number 1." Rimmer leaned closer to Frank, getting ready to memorise the 3 rules, "Never tell them how much you like them..." Rimmer's face screwed up in confusion, he mulled over the concept,
> 
> "but how will she know how much I like her?" "She won't" said Frank, as though it was obvious "if you say how much you like her she'll use it against you, women, you give them an inch and they take a yard," he paused "that's how women act Rimmer, you toy with you and its worse if they know how they feel about them, you forget to buy them a birthday present" Frank began mimicking a high pitched girly voice, "I thought you said you loved me?" His voice returned to normal "she catches you eyeing up another girls bum" the girly voice returned only much harsher "I thought you said you loved my bum?" He allowed his voice to return to normal before glancing at Rimmer, who was still trying to work out the concept of not telling Elizabeth how he felt. Frank bellowing down his ear interrupted his thoughts,
> 
> "Number 2" he said, "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!" Frank slumped back against the bench "not too bad, just enough to make them stay with you, tell them that their voice drives you to the point of suicide, or say you've seen hundreds of girls prettier then her, that way she will go out of the way to please you" Frank winked at Rimmer, and nudged him with his elbow.
> 
> "Rule number 3?" Rimmer asked, wanting to hurry the conversation along before to got any weirder. Frank laughed, and raised his eyebrows
> 
> "Have as many girls as you can on the go at the same time" Rimmer was now in totally shock, granted he was no ladies man, but these rules of Frank's: not telling them how you feel, treating them badly, have loads of affairs, they all seemed so wrong and immoral, and yet his brother could pull any girl in less then 2 minutes. "Right" said Frank yanking Rimmer to his feet by his shirt collar, "now I'm gonna teach you how to pull by saying nothing at all" Rimmer cheered up, this way he wouldn't have to use the 3 wrong rules.
> 
> "First" said Frank excitedly "is the hair flick, girls go mad at this...watch" Rimmer watched as his brother performed a hair flick worthy of a movie star, he swept his perfect hair, off his perfect face, and then as a grand finale, smiled. It was a smile that screamed perfection, coolness and rebellion at the same time. "Okay, now your turn" Frank said smirking at his younger brother. Rimmer copied Frank as best he could; he dropped his head, and flicked his hair. It didn't work; he looked like a small puppet with someone yanking sharply on the string that was attached to his head. Rimmer didn't achieve anything from this, except a stiff neck. Frank shook his head, tossing his perfect hair,
> 
> "perhaps we should try the 'leaning against something' trick" Rimmer nodded eagerly, then wished he hadn't as his neck screamed in pain. Frank put one elbow onto the stand up birdhouse that their father had made; he stared straight ahead lustily, "when girls catch you staring at 'em, they think your mesmerised by their beauty, but really your just checking out their 'assets'" Rimmer didn't know what Frank meant by 'assets' and he didn't really want to find out, so he concentrated hard at a point in the garden, and imagined Elizabeth there, not taking his eyes off that spot, he leaned backwards on his elbow, but slipped off the birdhouse and into the flowerbed below. He lay in the soil, embarrassed, confused and sore. His 3 brothers surrounded him, "Go get her 'Lover boy'" said Frank giving Rimmer a kick, their malicious laughter was still ringing in his ears when he was back at school.


	3. For a ladies honour

> For the next few weeks Rimmer lived his life in a trance, sometimes going for days without speaking. The bullies sensed this change in Rimmer and, to snap him out of it, beat him up more often. Still Rimmer didn't respond, and the bullies got bored, what was so good about beating someone up if they didn't beg for you to stop or cry. It was boring if they just sat back and accepted it, so they left him alone. It was in the middle of a geography class, usually Rimmer's favourite subject, when he took notice of what the teacher was saying for the first time in weeks. He was crouched over his desk, copying Elizabeth's name onto his arm, when the teacher grabbed his attention.
> 
> "Next week, class we'll be going on a geography trip to study trees and nature in Io central park" Rimmer's head snapped off the desk, he stared at the teacher, hanging onto her every word. Rimmer knew that the chances of meeting Elizabeth were minimal, but he could still hope, and even if he doesn't see her, he can just recall the place where for 5 blissful minutes, he was happy. Rimmer spent the rest of the week in joyful anticipation, while on the bus to central park, Rimmer could hardly sit still, and he was the first to get off the bus. The boys were put into pairs and they entered through the iron gates of Io central park.
> 
> He gazed longingly at the bench where he and Elizabeth had introduced themselves. For a moment he swore he could see an image of Elizabeth, smiling, holding out her hand for him to take. Rimmer stepped forward but was abruptly dragged away by one of the boys. He sat grumpily on the grass, staring at the bench, which was now 200 or so metres away. A piece of plain paper was handed to Rimmer by Miss Robbins, the geography teacher, along with a small smile.
> 
> For 30 minutes Rimmer forgot his troubles and was absorbed in sketching, shading, and drawing. He only stopped when his hand was throbbing so violently that Rimmer was sure it would explode, he allowed his eyes to roll over to the bench, his bench, his and Elizabeth's bench. He was disgusted to see that Butcher had somehow slipped away from the group and was now sat on 'their' bench. He was chatting up an unwilling girl. Butcher was only just 14 yet he could pass for a 18 year old, he was huge, not only in height but in build, it looked as though he'd been fed steroids as a baby instead of milk. To Rimmer it was like watching a bulldog try to chat up a butterfly. Butcher was leaning in front of the girl, obliterating her from Rimmer's view, it was only when she got angry and forced Butcher away when Rimmer realised it was Elizabeth, she was trembling and even from this distance Rimmer could tell she was upset. Rimmer's brain switched off and a cave man instinct took over; anger, hatred, fear and an urge to protect surged through Rimmer's body. He stormed over to Butcher and the sobbing Elizabeth.
> 
> "What do you think your doing!?! Get off her!" he said, in Rimmer's head he sounded fearless, confident, strong, he was mortified that when the words came out of his mouth he sounded as small and as helpless as a mouse. Butcher sneered at Rimmer, and pulled Elizabeth, who gave a repulsive shudder, closer to him. He grinned at Rimmer,
> 
> "Or what?" he said showing 2 rows of sharp teeth, "I'll....I'll" Rimmer stammered, he paused while he thought about what he would do, he curled his hands into two scrawny fists and held them up, his face set in determination. Butcher laughed, it was getting too easy, he liked a challenge, Rimmer was literally placeing himself in front of him and asking 'please beat me up!'
> 
> "I mean it," said Rimmer uncertainly, Butcher got off the bench and towered over Rimmer, he raised one fist, and punched Rimmer on the side of the head. Rimmer staggered backwards, his brain was flung from side to side yet still he stumbled forward ready to fight, he received a blow which sent him sprawling to the ground. He couldn't see anything; his whole head was hurting so badly Rimmer wished to could detach it. He opened his eyes just in time to see Elizabeth race up to Butcher and hit him. Butcher did something Rimmer would never let him forget.
> 
> He hit Elizabeth.
> 
> Not too hard, just enough to teach her a lesson. He's learned that off his dad. A women's place was in the kitchen, and she should keep her mouth shut if she knew what was good for her. Rimmer's anger evolved from 'bubbling over' stage to 'volcanic eruption' stage.
> 
> He hurled himself at Butcher, and watched in slow motion as the bully's face changed from a cocky smirk to a look of shock and terror. Rimmer knocked Butcher off his feet, and proceed to punch him. Every punch, every taunt, every hit was being paid back, double. A few of Butcher accomplices raced over, seeing that their leader was in trouble, but backed off when they saw what mincemeat Rimmer was making of the strongest, fiercest boy in the school.
> 
> When Rimmer felt his debt had been repaid, he stepped back and looked at Elizabeth, she looked back at him in a mixture of amazement and gratitude. Rimmer soon realized what he'd done; he'd beaten the school bully to a pulp, in front of his mates. He looked to where the rest of the class were sat; Butcher's accomplices were less then 5 metres away from the teachers. Rimmer gingerly grabbed Elizabeth's wrist, "Com'on " he said gasping. He and Elizabeth raced out of Io central park and were soon lost in the heart of the city.
> 
> When neither of them could run any further, they leant against a building, trying to stop their lungs from exploding in their chests, "Not so much Romeo and Juliet," Elizabeth panted, "more like Thelma and Louise!!" Rimmer, despite the fear and panic, that was dancing round his brain, laughed and turned to face Elizabeth, he stopped laughing.
> 
> Already her cheek was going deep, purple where Butcher had hit her. Rimmer's anger soared, he wanted to hit Butcher, he wanted to punch the living day lights out of him, but he couldn't, because he wasn't there.
> 
> Rimmer began to kick and punch the building he'd been leaning on. Elizabeth felt very helpless as she watched Rimmer hurt himself; every hit brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes. She did the one thing she knew would calm him down, the one thing that would stop him.
> 
> She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
> 
> Rimmer's anger melted away like an ice cube in an oven, his heart seemed to explode and sunshine flowed through his veins, his toes tingled and his hair stood on end, every good memory he had seemed to grow and eat away at the bad ones, his eyes gleamed and his smile was in danger of going beyond his eyebrows. He looked at Elizabeth, who was blushing. Rimmer walked over to her, and hugged her, and at that moment, rain lashed down, but neither Rimmer nor Elizabeth noticed, for neither of them wanted that hug to end.


	4. Alone

> Of all the times the head teacher had told off Rimmer, this one had to be the worst. Miss Robbins had found him and Elizabeth some 2 hours later. Rimmer was then dragged back to school and thrown in front of a fuming head master and a sobbing Butcher.
> 
> As Rimmer listened to Butchers version of the story he realised what a coward this boy was. Butcher insisted that he had gone over to the girl simply to ask for the time when Rimmer had came over and hit him for no apparent reason, and when Butcher had tried to calm Rimmer down, Rimmer became enraged and beat him up. When Rimmer was told to share his side of the story, he was stuck, no one would believe that weedy little Rimmer had single handily beat up a boy twice his size, and the only ones who had seen it were Elizabeth and Butcher's accomplices, who had backed up Butchers story. Rimmer lowered his head, and sneaked a side ways glance at Butcher, who shifted nervously in his seat.
> 
> "Yes sir" said Rimmer not taking his eyes off Butcher. The headmaster allowed Butcher to go, and then yelled at Rimmer for so long and so loud that Rimmer felt someone had removed his ears and shoved them in a tumble dryer. After what seemed like years Rimmer was dismissed with 5 months detention and a letter to his parents. Rimmer paused at the door,
> 
> "sir?" he asked quietly, "You still here" the Headmaster snapped, Rimmer took a deep breath and continued, "Are there any all girls schools around here, sir?" The headmaster fixed Rimmer was an icy glare,
> 
> "yes" he said finally "Mrs Bankhost's School for Girls, just outside the city centre, why thinking of going?" he chuckled "you'd fit in perfectly, might not get beat up so often!" Rimmer resisted the urge to throw something at the headmaster's balding head, "no reason, SIR!" he said and threw open the door, stepped out onto the corridor and slammed it shut.
> 
> He walked briskly down the corridor when from out of nowhere stepped Butcher, covered in cuts and bruises, and he looked like he wanted revenge. For a whole minute Rimmer and Butcher stood staring at each other, Butcher took a menacing step forward, but Rimmer just curled his hands into fists and held them up, Butchers face went white, and he stepped back, Rimmer walked towards him, Butcher's bottle went and he raced down the corridor as fast as he could. Rimmer smiled, he'd really given Butcher a taste of his own medicine, and it had scared him, as long as he and Rimmer knew who had won that fight, Butcher would never touch Rimmer again.
> 
> Rimmer made sure no one was looking before slipping out into the night; he strolled into the city and hailed a cab. The taxi driver eyed Rimmer suspiciously; there was something fishy about a 13 year old catching a cab alone a 10 o clock at night. Rimmer stared out of the cab window and said, "Mrs Bankhost's School for Girls please"
> 
> * * *
> 
> Rimmer prayed that he wouldn't get caught when he crept across the black lawn of Mrs Bankhost's school for girls, he didn't know where the girls dorms would be, but he had a feeling they'd be on the first floor.
> 
> It was too risky to go into the school, he'd get caught. Rimmer saw a trellis leading onto a balcony, it was a stupid idea but Rimmer had to go on and tell Elizabeth how he felt. He put his hand onto the ladder substitute and pulled it back with a yelp, tiny pinpricks covered the surface of his hand, and blood oozed out. He peered closely at the flowers, which were growing up the trellis, roses, blood red roses with thorns like needles.
> 
> Rimmer groaned, of all the trellises he could have picked to climb, he chose the ones with deadly flowers. Rimmer shook his head, and began to climb, it was slow and incredibly painful, at one point his foot slipped and he fell face first into the roses. By the time he reached the top he was scratched, bruised, and all he wanted to do was to see Elizabeth. He peered through the balcony door windows, the room was in total darkness, he tried to see if he could spot Elizabeth, so he stood on tiptoe and leant on the door. The door gave an ancient creak and sprung open, Rimmer fell into the room, and was greeted by shouts and cries.
> 
> "What's going on?" asked a voice to his right, someone turned on the lights and Rimmer was shocked to see him surrounded by girls, "It's a boy" one of them said, the rest stared at him like he was a creature that they'd never seen before. Rimmer picked himself off the floor with a groan, and looked at the girls; none of them were Elizabeth, he'd got the wrong room. He cleared his throat,
> 
> "Do any of you know Elizabeth Evans?" he pleaded, "Yes," said one of the girls stepping forward,
> 
> "Where is she?" she said happily,
> 
> "Gone" said the girl casually,
> 
> "Gone. Gone where?" Rimmer asked, he was beginning to panic, "She's been expelled, for the past month or so she's been truanting whenever she could, sneaking off to central park to meet some boy" the girl explained nastily,
> 
> Rimmer snapped his eyes shut, it was the only thing he could do to stop himself from crying. Someone touched his arm, but he didn't want to open his eyes, if he opened his eyes, he'd know it was real, and if it were real, Elizabeth would be gone.
> 
> "Are you Arnold, Are you Arnold Rimmer" Rimmer opened his eyes, "Yes" he said, the girl who was stood next to him touching his arm, handed him a letter, "Elizabeth wrote this for you," Rimmer stared at the letter, thanked the girls and climbed back down the trellis, this time, he didn't notice the pain.  
  
Under to dim light of a street lamp, Rimmer tore open the letter, and began to read, the writing was untidy, it looked like it had been rushed, and every so often they'd be a blob of ink where Elizabeth's tears had slipped onto the paper. Rimmer began to read.  
  
Dear Rimmer,  
I'm writing this in a hurry, I haven't much time.  
My parents are talking to Mrs Bankhost now, I know what it's  
about, I'm being expelled, I kept skipping school and I'd sit in  
the park and wait for you, its silly really. So if you want some  
one to blame for me leaving, its me. My parents were moving,  
and now that I'm not a Mrs Bankhost's anymore I have to go  
with them, I don't know where. I hope you get this, because  
I have to say something, I love you, I've loved you since the  
moment we met, I feel like I might die knowing I might not  
see you again, but one day Rimmer, I don't know when, I'll  
find you, but stay strong, be brave and never forget me, and  
I'll never forget you Rimmer.  
Love Elizabeth  
  
Rimmer's heart began to ache, he leant against the street lamp, and sank to the floor and cried.


	5. Painful Memories

> "And that's it," said Rimmer. Lister sat in silence,
> 
> "Wow" he said finally, "that explains you being a prize smeg head then" Rimmer didn't reply. It had all started with an argument, which ended up in Rimmer telling Lister about Elizabeth.
> 
> All day Rimmer and Lister had been getting on each others nerves, then they started arguing, neither of them could remember what the argument was originally about, both of them dragged up the past, started off fresh arguments and then Lister said something that pushed Rimmer over the edge.
> 
> "You've never loved anything or anybody in your life Rimmer, and no body loves you back!"
> 
> "Elizabeth loved me," Rimmer blurted out. He'd never mentioned Elizabeth to anyone, he'd kept her a secret, and now it was out in the open, Lister had pushed him that far that he was willing to relive the painful, heart aching memories.
> 
> Lister, realizing he'd stumbled across something interesting, asked Rimmer who Elizabeth was. Rimmer knew that he refused to tell Lister, he'd have the scouser following around for days, weeks even, asking him questions, trying to catch him unaware and just basically annoying him.
> 
> So Rimmer took a deep breath and began to tell him, all about he and Elizabeth. The memories weren't as bad as Rimmer had imagined, throughout his life he'd only remembered the bad ones, like not telling Elizabeth that he loved her when he had the chance. He'd forgotten all the good times, okay there weren't many, but there were some.
> 
> Lister was very well behaved during Rimmer's story, for years he'd been wondering what had happened to make Rimmer so cruel, and bitter, he was beginning to think it was just the way Rimmer was. Lister found himself feeling sorry for Rimmer, especially when he asked Lister to read the letter he'd kept hidden from everyone. Lister could tell Rimmer really loved Elizabeth, when he described her his eyes glazed over and, despite the great sadness inside him, he smiled.
> 
> "Why didn't you just go out with some other girl, that'd get you over Lizzy?" asked Lister
> 
> "Elizabeth" Rimmer corrected, he laughed at his naivety "every girl I met, she was nothing compared to Elizabeth, and she said she'd find me one day, so I intended to wait for her..." Rimmer's voice trailed off, he laid his head into his hands and groaned,
> 
> Lister bit his bottom lip and wondering what he could possibly say to comfort a dead, love sick, lonely man.
> 
> "do you ever think about her?" he asked,
> 
> "yes" Rimmer wanted to say, "all the time, she's tattooed on my brain, every day and every night I think of her, her and me together, I imagine what would have happened if we'd found each other again, I still love her, even after all this time. He shook his head "no, never"
> 
> * * *
> 
> I've always felt sorry for Rimmer whenever he describes being bullied, I'm bullied and I hate it. If you've never been bullied, you'll never understand how it feels; sometimes you feel that everyone is against you. I feel like that, hell we all do, but I take one look at my great (although wacky) mates and the feeling vanishes. I bet your wondering why the heck I'm waffling on like this, but if I don't get this off my chest I'll have to write a song about it (imagine how hard that would be). I didn't intended to finish this story, Chapter 1 was actually the whole story, but after receiving some lovely reviews I wanted to carry it on, because if I had left it like that, that wouldn't explain Rimmer's character. I hope you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it. As a finish i'd like it if you to take note of Elizabeths words of encouragement to Rimmer, "stay strong, be brave" because if you do, you'll come through and you'll be happy :)


End file.
